Bernie Casey

Bernie Casey

Date of birth:	June 8, 1939 (1939-06-08) (age 70)
Place of birth:	Wyco, West Virginia
Career information
Position(s):	Wide Receiver
College:	Bowling Green State
NFL Draft:	1961 / Round: 1 / Pick 9
Organizations
As player:
1961-1966 1967-1968	San Francisco 49ers Los Angeles Rams
Career highlights and awards
Pro Bowls:	1
Honors:	1968 Pro Bowl
Playing stats at DatabaseFootball.com

Bernard Terry "Bernie" Casey (born June 8, 1939) is a former intercollegiate and professional football player who continues to earn accolades as an accomplished actor. Casey was also a record-breaking track and field athlete at Bowling Green State University; winning three consecutive Mid American Conference titles in the 120-yard high hurdles (1958-60).

Career

The 6 ft 4 inch (193 cm) Casey began his acting career in the film Guns of the Magnificent Seven, a sequel to The Magnificent Seven. From there he moved between performances on television and the big screen such as playing team captain for the Chicago Bears in the TV film Brian's Song.^[1] In 1979 he starred as widower Mike Harris in the NBC television series Harris and Company, the first weekly American TV drama series centered around an African American family.

In 1983 he played the role of Felix Leiter in the rogue (non-EON Productions) James Bond film Never Say Never Again. His comedic role as Colonel Rhumbus in the John Landis film Spies Like Us was followed by appearances in the Revenge of the Nerds sequels. Also starred in Black explotation movie "Hit Man".

Also, during his career he worked with such well-known directors as Martin Scorsese in his 1972 film Boxcar Bertha and appeared on such television series as The Streets of San Francisco and as U.N. Jefferson, the national head of the Lambda Lambda Lambda fraternity in Revenge of the Nerds. In a good-natured spoof of 70s blacksploitation flicks, he played a caricature of himself, and other football players turned actors in Keenen Ivory Wayans's 1988 comedic film I'm Gonna Git You Sucka. He played a high school teacher in the cult-classic Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, released in 1989. In Eddie Murphy's 1990 Another 48 Hours, sequel to 48 Hours, Bernie Casey starred as Kirkland Smith-a very influential prisoner with outside connections. 1994 saw Casey guest-starring in a two-episode story arc in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (along with series star Avery Brooks) as the Maquis leader Lieutenant Commander Cal Hudson, and in 1995 as a guest-star on Babylon 5 as Derek Cranston. He has continued working as an actor. In 2006, he co-starred in the film When I Find the Ocean alongside such actors as Lee Majors.

In a piece for NFL Films, he expressed his disillusionment with the NFL and professional sports in general, feeling like his creativity and individuality were thwarted by conservative elements in the league and ownership hierarchy. He also showed off some paintings of his own creation during the piece. also acted in movie in the late 70 called gargolye as the leader of the gargolyes

Personal life

Casey was born in Wyco, West Virginia. He now resides in Los Angeles, California. He remains an avid Seventh Day Adventist.

References

External links

• Bernie Casey at the Internet Movie Database
• Bernie Casey at FelixLeiter.com
• Bernie Casey at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Bio at BGSU
• Mid-American Conference Men's Track and Field History